DS is a sophomore who is strongly leaning toward pursuing a major in engineering, mostly because he thinks it is a solid career choice. My husband is an engineer, so ds is very familiar with the field.
Ds enjoys his math and science classes, but he is also the kind of kid who enjoys all of his classes and is genuinely interested in a variety of subjects.
My older 2 kids had a lot of EC’s related directly to their intended majors - one was biochem/premed, the other arch/civil engineering.
However, ds’ EC’s lean heavily toward speech and debate and community involvement - service, local advisory boards, etc.
The only STEM EC he has right now is nsbe jr (National Society of Black Engineers). He only participates in the monthly career exploration meetings, which he enjoys. He is not interested in any engineering competitions.
Is this enough to show demonstrated interest in engineering if combined with the appropriate math/science coursework?
Ds is also a talented football player, and that also takes up a lot of his time. I would hate to have him to sacrifice EC’s he enjoys, but also wondering if the lack of engineering EC’s will harm him in the admissions/competitive scholarship process.
Interestingly, there is another thread trending now with a very similar question about finance. Later in your post, you asked specifically about demonstrated interest and that is the most critical question IMO. While well rounded engineers are in high demand, demonstrated interest must be there. The good news is your son sounds like he has it; The Influence of his Father and The National Society of Black Engineers (consider further involvement here). Assuming he is strong enough in math and science, both grades and difficult classes, he should be a great fit for the major. Never have him give up his sport, but maybe suggest he write a paper in one of his “variety of subjects” on the emerging technologies that will keep his fellow athletes safe on the field. These intellectual curious threads can bring things together in a future engineering application.
I agree that well rounded engineers will be attractive to a lot of schools. Maybe see what engineering school also have oppurtunity to join honors colleges that want multidisciplinary study.
My STEM kid had a similar profile, math major, but well rounded in arts/speech team/ community service. They actually ended up with a math department scholarship at their university for being well rounded.
My daughter is an engineer. In HS her ECs were mostly spent on music and theater. She had one engineering related EC. No issues with college admissions.
If your son can articulate “why engineering” he’ll be just fine!
Our DD got her undergrad degrees in engineering and Biology. As in your case, DH is an engineer so she was very familiar with the field and really thought that was what she wanted to do.
DD’s ECs had absolutely nothing to do with engineering or anything related. They were mostly music (both in and out of the high school), and she was on the swim team. Her main college essay was about establishing a flag team for her high school band. Again…not engineering or even STEM related.
Our kid loved the engineering courses, but decided that working as an engineer wasn’t going to be her cup of tea. She is working in another STEM field.
In my opinion, for most colleges, your son does not need STEM ECs to major in engineering.
There are a lot of different undergrad engineering programs.
My suggestion is encourage your DS to do what he really cares about. And then when the time comes, if engineering is still what he wants, he will undoubtedly be able to find the right sort of program for him.
I know two kids accepted to engineering at strong schools (they ended up going to cal poly slo and UNC-CH, but both had a good, wide range of admits) whose main ECs and essay topics focused on music. I’m led to believe this is not that uncommon either. Your kid’s strong academics and varied interests should make him a compelling candidate to holistic schools imo. Fit to major can only help, but colleges like well-rounded students. Separately, philosophically, I think kids in high school should be allowed to …just be teenagers and do what interests them rather than focusing their energy and time on something of less interest just because it’s what they think colleges might want to see.
One day, your kid will be an adult. Will he look back with fondness at the interesting ECs he pursued, or will he look back with regret at the boring stuff he did simply because he wanted to find something related to his potential major, for a date starting in a few years time? And if he ends up not majoring in engineering and switches majors (extremely common) will it be better for him to have not done the things he is really interested in?
Your child is 15 or so. He should do things that interest him.
Of course! I am not considering having him stop doing things he finds interesting. Just wondering whether or not he needs to intentionally add something engineering related. That might take time away from what he’s doing currently, but he wouldn’t completely drop his current stuff.
Thankfully, it seems like what he’s doing is enough!
Remember that common kinds of engineering (e.g. chemical, civil, electrical, industrial, materials, mechanical) are widely available, including at universities where admission (or merit scholarships) is determined by stats only (or where extracurriculars are of only small importance compared to stats).
Based on your other posts about full tuition and full ride scholarships, if the student has high stats, there are some based on stats at universities with engineering majors, such as PVAMU, Tuskegee, and AAMU.
They’re a sophomore. My kid changed “majors” 4 times Junior year through Senior year when they applied. What he likes today isn’t necessarily what he’ll like tomorrow. Smartly or sadly, my son landed on MechE for what you said - solid career prospects vs. his true love - atmospheric science (which wouldn’t have been a good choice given today’s policies). The point is - it’s too early to know.
There are tons of ABET accredited engineering schools. You don’t need to have done robotics or worked in a science job. You can have anything from no ECs and get into a great engineering school to normal - sports, band, job, walking dogs, theater….whatever.
So no - lack of ECs won’t hold him back - in most, if not all cases. He has football - a great EC. But even if he had none, there’s a ton of great schools, where he’s going to get the same salary and job, that would also love to have him.
Scholarships come:
do they even offer them - not all do
some are automerit based on gpa and or gpa/sat
others are holistic - so in this case, they’d look at the student’s background
He should do what he enjoys and not force things. If you’re truly unsure, after Junior year, he can attend an engineering session/camp - such as Operation Catapult at Rose Hulman, STEM at Purdue or one of many others around the country (some are competitive admit, some aren’t).
Have him get good grades, keep up his academics in English, Foreign Language, Math, Social Science and Science - and he’ll be fine - with plenty of options no matter his EC profile.
In the end, the most important thing for college - is your budget. From there, you find applicable schools.
The key is whether or not he enjoys math, does well in math, and is disciplined and hard-working. His current ECs are more than adequate unless applying for a small, specialized program.
In addition to being qualified for most engineering programs, my thought is that your son would be a great candidate for business school due to his involvement in the community, speech & debate skills, and strength in math. If your son majors in engineering, works for a few years, and maintains involvement in the community, he would be a strong candidate for any MBA program (as employers who hire MBAs typically love community involvement since it is regarded as a leadership skill).
P.S. Have several engineers in extended family. Most spent their spare time involved in religion / church activities, politics, and building/taking apart and reconstructing items. All are electrical engineers. Tough to do an engineering major if not really interested in engineering type activities. However, much easier to switch out of an engineering major than to transfer in.
